


traveler

by searwrites (sears)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff, Kisses, M/M, Texting, somewhat canon divergent timeline, tiny offscreen kagesuga that can be interpreted however you want
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 19:16:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5139473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sears/pseuds/searwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's been eyeing him all day, and Shouyou does his best to try and send him a smile every time he catches him staring, just so he knows it's okay to do that. He likes it when Kenma watches him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	traveler

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arisaema](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arisaema/gifts).



_kenma!! twenty minutes away!!!! are you excited yet?!--_

 

Shouyou taps on the edge of his phone's screen, waiting for a few seconds before he decides Kenma isn't going to reply right away, and then shuts his phone. His knee is bouncing, and he's been chewing on his lower lip for the better part of the ride over here. He has to do something with his hands, he thinks, as he imagines the phantom sting of a ball against the fat of his palm. Kageyama even moved away from him, chose to sit on his own in the other row of seats, because he claimed Shouyou was 'vibrating', whatever the heck that means.

Shouyou's phone buzzes in his hand, and he gasps audibly in surprise.

 

_\--yeah. you're late again... but not long now, i guess_

 

Shouyou's hastily typed reply is an incomprehensible stream of hearts and smileys, a sort of apologetic sign off for not being able to articulate how excited he is over text. Kenma never knows how to reply to these types of messages anyways, he usually changes the subject.

There are road signs breaking down the distance, the numbers dwindling. Shouyou squeezes the fabric of his shorts just to give his mind something tactile to work with here. All he can think about is practicing until he passes out, and then the possibility of sharing Kenma's sleeping bag with him again.

They've been texting a lot lately. More than usual. Kenma asks him things, wants to know his opinion, says he misses him. It makes Shouyou's stomach flutter, a lesser adrenal reaction than his jumps, or that smarting burn he gets from hitting too many balls in succession, though it packs a similar punch.

 

Shouyou's phone vibrates again. He almost drops it this time in his haste to get it flipped open.

 

_\-- <3_

 

He swallows an audible squeal, and must fail miserably by the sharp way Kageyama barks _"be quiet, for once!"_ in his direction.

Shouyou sticks his tongue out at Kageyama, and pretends not to watch the way Suga-san quietly gets up to occupy the seat next to Kageyama, or the way Kageyama looks up at him with wide open eyes. _Smellyama_ needs a babysitter, apparently, with all the time Suga-san spends with him. Maybe he's about to get scolded, he'd deserve it.

 

Shouyou opens his phone again, bites the very tip of his tongue between his teeth as he types his reply.

 

_< 3 <3 <3 <4 <5 !!!!!--_

 

Kageyama grumbles something inaudible, and Shouyou watches from across the aisle as something kind of miraculous happens.

He's frowning, in that trademark Kageyama way that has his mouth all twisted and his brows knit tightly together, but then it just... disappears. Suga lifts his hand, brushes a few strands of hair away from Kageyama's eyes so he can look at him better, and mutters something he can't quite hear, and Kageyama completely softens with it. The lines of his face smooth into a timid expression that Shouyou doesn't quite understand on him. It sort of reminds him, a little, of when Shouyou first told Kenma how he thinks it's weird he's a middle blocker because he's so short-- which doesn't make a whole lot of sense as a connection to Shouyou, but still.

It's like that small touch from Suga's fingers wiped away all the anxiety Kageyama had knotted up inside of him. Noya-senpai jokes about Suga 'mothering' Kageyama too much, but that doesn't seem like what this is.

 

Shouyou decides to ignore Kageyama's confusing face, and instead goes back to alternating between squeezing his phone and squeezing his kneecaps. Kenma doesn't reply again, but probably because he knows he's close.

 

*

 

When they finally get into the gym, Shouyou is out of breath from sprinting all the way across the parking lot at top speed. He's the first one from Karasuno inside, and his shoes squeak when he skids to a stop right next to Kenma who's sitting at the bottom of the bleachers. Kenma looks up suddenly from his hands, with a hopeful lift to his brow that smooths into a tilted smile when he recognizes who it was that made all the noise, and it makes Shouyou feel ten feet tall.

"Hi," Shouyou says with a grin, sitting down heavily next to Kenma on the bench.

He must have said it extra loud, because Kenma laughs quietly, tucking his hair behind his ear as he looks back down at his hands in his lap. His response is an almost-whispered, "You made it."

"Mm," Shouyou nods, and he takes a minute to glance around as he gulps in air to catch his breath back. They've arrived at a break, which is normally when Kenma would be off to the side playing his games, unless his team dragged him to run drills.

But he doesn't have a game, and he isn't running drills. He's playing with the drawstring of his shorts, and his fingers are trembling. Shouyou glances up to his face, his neck, and sees the way his back his hunched. He looks uncomfortable.

"Here," Shouyou says, shoving his phone into Kenma's line of sight. He must need a game, Shouyou thinks. Shouyou's hands still feel kind of numb from having nothing to occupy them on the ride over. Kenma can beat his score at the crappy bubble pop game he downloaded to pass the time until they can play.

Kenma looks up at Shouyou, but takes the phone wordlessly. When he looks back down to it his hair falls back in front of his face in a cascading sweep of gold, and Shouyou has an idea that makes his heart pound.

Shouyou leans down and sweeps Kenma's hair away from his face. In doing so he ends up cradling each of Kenma's cheeks in his palm, while Kenma looks at him like a spooked animal, and Shouyou's palms _finally_ stop tingling.

"Shouyou..."

Shouyou plays down the awkward jerk of his trembling hands and tucks Kenma's hair behind his ears for him. Kenma's cheeks turn bright red, and Shouyou can feel Kenma's heart beating, his pulse hammering behind his ears.

"Sorry," Shouyou says, dropping his hands at the widening of Kenma's eyes. "Sorry, I thought it might-- sorry."

Kenma doesn't look relieved the way Kageyama had. He looked almost frightened, for a second. Now he's scowling at Kuroo, who's failing to stifle a laugh on the other side of the court.

"It's okay," Kenma mumbles, as he flips open Shouyou's phone and searches through his apps.

Huh, Shouyou thinks. Maybe fear isn't what that was, don't cats usually run _away_ from danger? Kenma wiggles a little in his seat, presses the bone of his ankle into Shouyou's down at their feet, and Shouyou's heart floats back up from where it sunk a few seconds ago.

Okay, he thinks. His palms feel bare and raw.

 

*

 

Later, after his lungs feel emptied and his body is sufficiently sore, Kenma pulls him aside. He's been eyeing him all day, and Shouyou does his best to try and send him a smile every time he catches him staring, just so he knows it's okay to do that. He likes it when Kenma watches him.

Kenma pulls Shouyou by the wrist around the outside of the block, in the dim shadows of the trees, the coolness of the late afternoon air bouncing off the concrete brick at their backs. He turns to face Shouyou, and then very slowly, deliberately, pulls Shouyou's hands up to his face.

"It's okay," Kenma says, as he fits Shouyou's palms to the hinge of his jaw, resting at the top of his neck. Shouyou isn't sure whose heartbeat it is he's feeling in his fingertips this time -- Kenma's or his own. "Just... there were people."

"Oh," Shouyou says, because he's snagged his attention on Kenma's mouth, on the spit-sheened slick after he licks his lips. He's so pretty, Shouyou thinks, and nearly tips backwards when Kenma leans forward and presses a soft, shaky little kiss to the corner of his mouth.

His lips are cold, Shouyou thinks, and for some reason just knowing this makes him feel hot all over.

Shouyou makes a noise. He isn't sure what kind of noise, but Kenma reacts to it. He inhales deeply, and then does it again, this time not missing his mark, kissing Shouyou square on the lips. It's chaste, drier now that his lips aren't so wet, but the sensation still zips through Shouyou like a lit firework, spiraling up into the ether.

 _Kenma-chan_ , he thinks, or possibly whispers.

Shouyou has been told a few times that he needs to get better about thinking before he acts or speaks. He's trying, and Kenma makes it easy for him. The added distance is a buffer for this, Shouyou trips over himself a whole lot less, but that isn't a part of this now, so Shouyou waits a second, takes a breath or two, and then decides he _knows_ what this is.

Kenma makes him feel good.

Kenma kissing him makes him feel _super_ good, and Shouyou wants Kenma to feel _ten times_ as good as that. It's this thought that has him whimpering and tipping forward, smattering Kenma's face in soft, inexpertly eager kisses-- all over his forehead, the side of his nose, under his eyes, his warm cheeks.

"Shouyou..." Kenma mutters his name, only this time it isn't fear-- he's laughing quietly, shying away from Shouyou's kisses but still holding Shouyou's wrists so that his hands can't leave his face. It's so nice. Kenma being embarrassed when it's just the two of them, showing Shouyou he's embarrassed and telling him it's okay, it's _so nice_.

Shouyou rubs Kenma's hot cheeks with his thumbs, their breath fogging between their faces, and his heart feels like it's about to take flight as he mumbles, "I like making you feel good."

They stay like that for a minute -- or maybe many minutes, it's hard to tell -- with their foreheads together and laughing at random intervals for absolutely no reason. It's giddy and stupid and fun, and Kenma is so nice. His face is still so red, and Shouyou knows his is as well. His cheeks have that burning sensation you get when you go from a well heated room out to an icy cold winter day.

Kenma eventually takes Shouyou's hands away from his cheeks, but he doesn't push him away or drop them, he just holds them. He twists Shouyou's hands until he can thread their fingers together. Kenma's nails are nice and neat, and a little long, and Shouyou's seem grubby and bitten down in comparison, but Kenma doesn't seem to care. Kenma squeezes his hand a few times and it seems to be unspoken yet understood that Shouyou needs a minute to calm down-- Kenma must be able to feel his heartbeat in his wrist, must be able to hear the shaky intakes of breath. The idea of Kenma making _him_ relax is funny to Shouyou, so he laughs out of nowhere, but they've been laughing the whole time back here in the shade, so Kenma just smiles crookedly at him, like he's trying to hide it.

"Stop," Kenma whines quietly, squeezing Shouyou's hand and tugging him close.

Sometimes the things Kenma says don't make sense with the things he does, but Shouyou is beginning to make sense of it all. They let go of each other's hands by the time they walk back to the gym, but that numb tingle is left in his palms, and Shouyou isn't sure what the sensation is from, and he doesn't care. He still smiles like an idiot whenever Kenma looks at him, and he decides he likes it best this way, nobody has to know why, just them.

 

**Author's Note:**

> ([twitter](https://twitter.com/ashemasteryi))


End file.
